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Um...yeah. Wikipedia's Istanbul article has generous plethora of elaborate imagery. :-P I suggest you especially note the Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia, and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Anything else? :-D

I saw this as one of the recent Brickshelf upload a couple days ago and loved the gorgeous landscaping. I too imagined this would go very well with some Imperial soldier or armada minifigures. The SNOT construction of the brook looks very good as well. *y*

I thank you very much for your gratitude, but I told you the Ottoman culture was much more similar to that of Europe as compared to Arabian culture, didn't I? ;-) That's why they adopted the galleon design, only they also used the oars so they would continue on course even if the winds weren't favorable, I guess.About those royal costumes, I recommend trying that Wikipedia hyperlink I posted initially and scrolling down to the "Imperial Heads of the House of Osmon" list -

Wow, I'm glad some of those did indeed strike your fancy and pleased to be of service. X-D Well, the website I took the image from (Which Mr. Phes pointed out there) didn't have much of a caption unfortunately, but I think the ship classification is easy enough to research on its own. There's definitely a good share of Galleys and Galleasses in there like Mr. Phred explained along with some Dhow and Xebec type vessels mixed in. The last two seem to be of a galleon type design, probably Caramusal type Caravel type thing. 8-| Anyway, any and all of those there are the battleships, I believe. Wikipedia tells me that the Battle of Zonchio (also known as the Battle of Sapienza or the First Battle of Lepanto) was the first battle in which naval cannons were used. It was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, and the Ottomon flagship, "G

Sure! Do you happen to fancy any of these?

Excellent thread, Athos! I often use torsos from other themes while building piratical creations due to the fact that I myself own little pieces from the actual LEGO Pirate product line. I'm not sure about the Penguin torse, the bow tie looks to me more like mid to late 19th century dress. Anyway, here's some more examples - Some Jedi robes can make nice generic townspeople/farmers/pirates - Gilderoy Lockheart's elegant dress makes excellent aristocrats - Newer Dumbledore torso and Vampire torso makes a good hussar - Plus, the Professor Hooch torso from the Harry Potter line and this castle torso suits certain Imperial commanders very well - :-P Also, I like these two classic castle torsos - And some more good generic ones including Frank Mason's coat and a town one-

I'm going to have to agree with Count Sneffy on this, from what I know the Islamic empire of Arabia wasn't very warlike when in its golden ages. It seems there was a huge trade industry being situated on a peninsula surrounded by four bodies of water and many were skilled sailors, but I don't think there was much of a modern navy. Plus, there was absolutely no "separation of church and state" in this region and therefore Muslim religious leaders, such as caliphs and sultans, would govern society with the use of religious texts, most notably the Sharia and Qu'ran. The Ottomans, on the other hand, had many modern fleets and a more European style government. I imagine this was mostly due to their location further west of Arabia and their Roman-Byzantine heritage. For the list of Turkish Ottoman political leaders, see this Wikipedia article.

Thank you, I am quite aware of your avid enthusiasm towards all things historical and just knew you would get a kick out of some of these here. I was quite surprised as well to find that Andrew posted it on the Brother's Brick a couple days ago. In fact, out of the seven postings on that blog that mention me, Mr. Becraft was responsible for every one of them. :'-) Cool, thanks very much. I'm glad to get a second compliment on Teach from you. :-P The capes where partially inspired by some Pirate works of Johannes "Jojo" Koehler. He used them as bandanna type things, while I tried to make them look more like a period tailcoat by using one on each side. I'm very glad you like the effect! :-)

Since I don't own any complex digital photo editing programs I typically find a suitable image in a historical reference book to use a backdrop in a photograph, for the printing is higher quality than what my printer can print. Notable examples are as follows; When I don't use a two dimensional printed ink as a backdrop, I usually use either authentic snow, rock, grass, dirt, or any possible combination thereof. Some notable examples of this as well; Plus, photographing MOCs outdoors guarantees an excellent source of natural, unfiltered light nearly every time. It makes tedious flash-less photography of plastic models much easier. :-)

These are indeed well crafted works of our graphics admin emeritus. They seem to be images taken from Jeramy Spurgeon' newest edition of his magazine, RAILBRICKS #2, in which Mr. Spurgeon interviews Brick Miner. One can read more about it and download the PDF file here. *y*

Thanks very much, IS, and I'm glad you like the armored elephant! Athos is indeed correct, after getting shot by a musket ball Nelson lost the lower part of his right arm as depicted by painter Lemuel Francis Abbott and sculptor Edward Hodges Baily. You could find and post a picture of that stake in the middle of the Bath town square. X-D Yes, I remember those all well, as I do the vignettes you made to accompany them. However, I would describe the latter as 'biblical' rather than 'historical', just for the sake of specificity. *y*

Ahoy there! I'd like share a few of my most recent shots of famous historical figures rendered in brick with the portion of you guys here who haven't originally seen them in my flickr folders. Here's the very latest of mine, African-American botanist and agronomy educator George Washington Carver made in honor of the American Black History Month, February. Next for the month of February is Carthaginian general Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca, crossing the treacherous Western Alps in 218 BC. Not quite black, but surely a key figure of the African diaspora. And yes, that is a Duplo elephant. I also have two purist built figures included in one photograph; Vice Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson and Emperor Napol

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!! *wub* My favorite is Zulu chieftain Shaka and the Lincoln head, your beard solution is quite clever although it renders the head itself rather useless. :-P Still a nice table scrap, however. Uncle Joe is quite an interesting character to do as well, but I'm not so sure how well the hair standing up like that works. He's very good besides that, but I recommend giving him a police type cap in brown or gray or something. Overall, these are some really nice purist made historical icons. I think it's quite remarkable when one make an intriguingly vivid creation from LEGO that teaches an observer something about world history, a characteristic that I try to include in most of my major MOCs as well. I'll definitely be posting some of my own past purist historical figures in this forum myself within the next couple days. *y*

I find hanging green snakes from trees makes good looking vines if you don't have any of those whips. I would post a picture but I don't think I ever have seen anybody use them in that way before. Yes, uneven terrain is very important. I think that using gray slopes for rock, brown for muddy terrain along with other colors for palette variation, and working with all the dark, light, and sand green you have would create the best landscaping. Building up hills with lots of little overlapping plates and with minimal large bricks while keeping all the studs uncovered for a more natural look as demonstrated here seems to be the best technique for this. After you have hills like that, load it up with as most vegetation as possible like all those flower stems you have. And here's another interesting technique for you courtesy of Mr. Nelson Yrizarry:

The other day I made a little program using MS Visual Basic 6 that I though you guys might find amusing, so I figured I'd share it with you here. It's compiled into an executable file and it's about eighty kilobytes to download (which is fairly small). One can currently find it hosted here, if this said individual wishes to do so. Oh, and the object of the game is to click. X-D

I uploaded a screenshot somewhere for a very similar topic on a different forum a long while ago but alas, now I can no longer locate it. Here's a new one (hasn't changed either): I go by a similar philosophy partially because a large picture is relatively useless being that it basically has no function, but primarily because it significantly slows down the log on process. However, I do remember you mentioning some time ago that you had a 7760 Shunter Locomotive as desktop wallpaper. Must have been some transient exhilaration over winning that Ebay auction. :-P

My vote goes to Mr. Brickster, the rich atmosphere is a very authentic rendition of a truly classic historical film. Thank you, Athos, do you plan on making some city MOCs of your own or will you integrate the aforementioned techniques in your typical historical creation?

Hooray! New leaks! X-D http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233454

Oh yes, I've seen this beauty many times before while seeking every nautical vessel Brickshelf has to offer. I also like this ship made by the same guy very much. *y* 'Kilo Moana' is Hawaiian for 'Oceanographer'. It's funny how similar ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and Te Reo Māori can be. See, even the names that they give their language are exceedingly similar. :-P She's a real ship you now, there's a couple pictures at the the bottom of the gallery. ~War

Not a bad obsession? That is an excellent obsession, my friend! There really aren't enough well constructed Lego lighthouses out there and I'm really glad to see that you happen to have such ambition to make one. I'd be more then happy to help you in any way but I wonder if there any chance you could be more specific in what you're thinking you need tip on. Are you planning to male an interior? If so, then how many floors do you wish to put in? Perhaps this will be of interest - this guy did something pretty nifty in the way of floors but I'm not sure if you'll be able to successfully replicate in your larger size. Here's what the final product of that one looked like - I think yours will be awesome set on actual coastline unlike this one floating in air. ;-) The little history blurb looks good too! That does indeed work pretty well. I'll endorse that too! *y*

Thanks very much to you Mr. Stauder, Mr. Windu, IS, and Batbrick! I liked looking at all of your entries very much as well, all of the submissions in this contest are overall very nice. I also find it notable that your house, IS, has been constructed under such binding limitations. The fact that only two sets where used makes it especially impressive. *y* You are more than welcome, UB, and I'm glad you like my boat! And don't pay attention to those other guys up there making comments about vomiting, Timmay is in fact observing a group of passing stingrays swimming along at a fairly low depth beneath the waves. :-) Yes, the magnifying glass is definitely an absolute necessity due to all those mysterious clues that are always waiting to be uncovered! X-D

Parrots create luscious atmosphere with exotic beauty above all else!

V-W-2B When Mister oo7 isn't hunting down malicious and merciless pirates in the name of the royal Crown of Britain he captains a 3,000 horsepower harbor tug in the seaport of the Eurobricks neighborhood. She's a Haven Sleepboot named the Diesella. Port forward- Port aft - Starboard aft - Stern - Wheelhouse interior (the roof is hinged) - Here's a shot of a little neighborhood block party - I'm really sorry it was not possible to invite everyone, I was fairly limited, you see. :'-( One can find the ship anatomy here and some inspiration photographs here. Oh, and the idea for the hovercraft rubber elements is courtesy of our very own Sinner. :-)

Here are some pictures I used as reference while building my entry to the neighborhood contest. This one I love -